Parting Ways
by DarkandGrimm
Summary: The Winchesters fight nightmares everyday, monsters of every sort. They think they're seen it all. They didn't know how wrong they were. Phobetor, god of nightmares and old friend of Gabriel's, sends the Winchesters, their angel Castiel, and even Gabriel himself, into their own personal hells. The problem is, they don't even know that they're dreaming.


**AN: Alright. I'm just going to apologize in advance. Things may get rocky with this story, but it'll end with kittens and rainbows. I promise.**

 **For those who have read that little blip of my other story, I'm sorry. i got distracted. If I get energetic I'll start writing for it again. But only after I finish this one. And I will finish this one - I have a flow chart planning out the whole plot and everything.**

 **I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters, but I do enjoy killing them all.**

 **And on that note, happy reading!**

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So this is it. The end of the apocalypse.

Apparently, Lucifer was right when he said they'd always end up here. Same virus. Same camp. Same shitty apocalypse. Same fucking rose garden.

What Lucifer didn't foresee is the small details, after all, it's those details that matter most. Dean was prepared this time. A lot more prepared. He supposed he had Zachariah to thank for that, and Dean was more than happy that the bastard's twisted scheme could be used against him.

The biggest difference this time around was Gabriel, who, for whatever reason, decided to stick around. (Dean suspected that reason had something to do with Sam. Whether it was Sam's puppy eyes or his ass, Dean didn't know and honestly never wanted to know.)

Gabe kept Cas mostly out of the gutter. No orgies, no drugs, no hippy shit. Cas did, however, develop a sweet-tooth, so both Gabe and Cas got bitchy if there wasn't any candy to be found.

Gabriel and Sam… well, Dean tried not to think about them too hard. All that matter was Sam was still smiling. And Sam was smiling, for a long time.

The smiling stopped when Gabriel died.

Sam became cold and distant, like a piece of himself died along with the angel. He'd leave without a word and show up days later without an explanation.

Every time Dean tried to figure out what was going on he'd get the same, "Leave me alone, Dean. I'm fine. We have work to do."

And they did have work to do. The Croatoan virus was staring to spread to the major cities and was nearly impossible to contain, never mind stop. Both Heaven and Hell were still hot on their tails. The symbols carved into their ribs could only hide so much.

Sam wasn't the only one taking Gabriel's death harshly. Cas had lost his brother, probably the only one that actually care about him by that point. He'd been using Gabe's grace to recharge his own, to slow the Fall, but without Gabriel, Castiel became more human by the day. It frightened him, and it frightened Dean too.

The day Gabriel came back, it all went to hell. Literally.

Well, almost literally. Hell on Earth was close enough to the real thing. Dean and Cas would know.

The beginning of the end of the world started with knocking on the motel room door. It was heavy and fast, like a machine gun firing off. Dean gladly would've taken the hail of bullets over what he'd figured out when he opened the door.

Sam had said yes.

Standing in the doorway was Ellen and Jo. both of them supported Gabriel, who looked only semi-conscious.

Sam had said yes, and in return Lucifer brought back the Harvelles and Gabriel. There was no other explanation.

If it were any other time, Dean would've laughed. Both Dean and the Dean from Zach's version of the future were certain that Sam would have said yes because hate, or maybe exhaustion. Instead he started the end of the world because of love. Dean did always tell his Sam that he was turning into a girl, and now…

Well, now Dean had to kill is baby brother, and somehow not destroy the entire world in the process.

Of course, that's just the way Winchester luck works. Must be a Thursday.

"Well boy? You just gunna stand there and gawk at us? This guy is short but he's pretty heavy, and I'm sure he'd prefer not to be dropped on concrete."

Ellen, Jo, Gabriel. Right. Sam, Lucifer, apocalypse. Shit. No, focus. Ellen. Jo. Gabriel. Cas. Focus.

"Earth to Dean. You still with us?"

Dean's brain snapped back into gear, "Right. Yeah, sorry. Just throw him on the bed." He stepped back and allowed them to pass.

Cas poked his head out of the bathroom, "Dean, is that Sa-" He paused in disbelief, "Gabriel? Why? How?" The angel looked back and forth between his brother and Dean. Finally, it clicked.

"Dean, I'm sor-"

"Shut up, Cas."

"But Dean I-"

"Cas, I told you to SHUT UP."

Cas stared down at his shoes, which were suddenly very interesting, and skirted around Dean. He knelt down at Gabe's side and clutched onto is unconscious brother's hand. The gesture was far too human for the angel, and only served to further piss Dean off.

Ellen smacked him upside the head, "Watch your mouth, Dean. Your angel doesn't have to stay with you."

"Cas isn't much of an angel anymore, Ellen." Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Cas flinch.

Ellen paused, "Well apparently we missed a lot while we were gone. You better start from the beginning."

Dean spared one more glance to Cas before turning back to the Harvelles and sighing. As Ellen and Jo pulled up a pair of chairs, he explained the happenings of the past few years. There wasn't much to tell. The Winchester brothers screwed things up. People died. They hid. Cas stopped being Castiel and became practically human. Gabriel died. Sam said yes. Maybe if Dean had tried harder, had payed more attention to Sam, none of this would've happened. But he didn't. The apocalypse is closer that it's ever been and Dean's running out of options.

While Dean debriefed the Harvelles, Gabriel regained consciousness. He squeezed his younger brother's hand and smiled softly, in a way that did not suit the trickster whatsoever.

"I hate to break this to you kiddo, but you look like shit."

Cas hesitated for a moment before replying, "I can't say much for my appearance, but at least I don't smell like excrement."

Gabriel let out a huff of laughter, "Look at that. Cassie made a joke. A bad one, but still a joke. The world really must be ending." His laugher quickly died out.

He looked up, meeting Cas's eyes. "I'm sorry bro, you were probably hoping to get some juice back, but it looks like I'm just as empty as you now. When S-" Gabriel choked back his words. "When I was brought back, my grace wasn't brought with me."

After a few moments of silence Gabriel spoke again, "So do I get a "Welcome to the human club" party or what?"

"Well, we used to belong to a much better club, Gabriel." Cas said in a hushed voice. Dean's cringing went unnoticed. "And I don't believe that now would be the appropriate time for celebration."

"Damn right it's not."

All eyes feel on Dean, who had been watching the exchange between the two ex-angels. "We're going to call Bobby, tell him what happened and then we're going to figure out how to kill the Devil."

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 **AN: Everyone still with me? No? Good. It only gets worse from here.**

 **Keep your eyes peeled for an update within a week or so.**


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